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bravo charlie club episode 40
6 Plays2 months ago
In this week's pod :
Fully Awake Project
- Why do Council's use the smallest font possible on rates and water notices ?
- Pacemaker gifting.
Travel tip of the week
- Audible: Perfect for bookworm drivers ?
Listener feedback
- JA : E-biking and listening - Thanks JA.
- GG: On hero's journey - “Tap into failure. We aren’t superhuman.” - Wise words.
Conundrum of the week
- Google AI summaries : Love em or hate em ?
And thats the pod !
Contact
hello@bravocharlie.club
https://www.bravocharlie.club
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbAxzYk4tRrk1rfYcT3I
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Personal Journeys
00:00:04
Richard
Welcome to the Bravo Cheli Club podcast, making you 12 and a half minutes more awesome each week. He's Ben, I'm Richard, let's go. ben how are you doing this week?
00:00:15
Ben
I'm well, mate. I'm on the hero's journey. How are you doing?
00:00:18
Richard
Yeah, good, very good, very good. On the journey as well, still riding it from last week.
00:00:23
Ben
Yes, yes, yes. And it was a slightly longer episode last week, but I got a lot out of it. Really enjoyed it.
Global Reach and Listener Acknowledgment
00:00:32
Ben
Hey, this is a country call out. I didn't do the research last week, so I couldn't give a shout out to our Russian friends. Privyat.
00:00:42
Ben
Privyat is a welcome to those of our Russian colleagues.
00:00:43
Richard
yet
00:00:47
Ben
Thanks for joining. And think that's country 36, mate, that we've entered into.
00:00:51
Richard
Yes.
00:00:53
Ben
So getting getting the word out there.
00:00:53
Richard
Taking the world by storm.
00:00:58
Ben
All right, let's get into it,
Humor in Bill Payments
00:00:59
Ben
mate. Fully Awake Project, what have you got?
00:01:02
Richard
So had to pay a bill. This is not an unusual thing.
00:01:05
Ben
What?
00:01:05
Richard
I pay bills all the time.
00:01:07
Ben
Don't pay them.
00:01:08
Richard
know, madness, right?
00:01:08
Ben
just Just don't pay them.
00:01:10
Richard
But i did it well I think it's one of these things as you get, as you're getting older, right, you come and you get the bill notice and down the bottom, that bottom third where they've got the payment slip and they've got the seven different ways to pay.
00:01:16
Ben
Yes.
00:01:21
Ben
Yeah.
00:01:22
Richard
And they've got 12 different font sizes.
00:01:23
Ben
Yes.
00:01:25
Richard
There's eight logos jammed in the space. And you're looking for the BPAY part, not the post-bill pay, not the other but the the other sort of pay, not the easy pay, whatever it is. And you find the BPAY and you're like, it's,
00:01:37
Richard
it's these, it's, it's 12 of the smallest digits they could possibly find joined, jammed in next to each other with a space. And then like one number hanging off the back. And why do they do that?
00:01:47
Richard
Like, at how does that make anyone's life easier?
00:01:48
Ben
That's fair call.
00:01:50
Richard
You know?
00:01:52
Ben
That's right.
00:01:52
Richard
Yeah.
00:01:53
Ben
You're magnifying glass.
00:01:54
Ben
So do you resort to posting him a check?
00:02:00
Richard
I don't have a checkbook, but you know, I should just for the, for the offense.
00:02:00
Ben
can't even tell you.
00:02:04
Richard
Yeah.
00:02:05
Ben
Yeah.
00:02:06
Richard
so Anyway, had, yeah, ahead
00:02:06
Ben
I don't know if I've ever ever had a checkbook. Yeah. Interesting. we sort of We sort of fell in that middle, that generation.
00:02:11
Richard
it last century I had one, yeah. The last century, yeah.
00:02:15
Ben
you did? Okay. The last century.
00:02:16
Richard
Yeah.
00:02:17
Ben
i remember my yeah my parents paying for groceries with checks.
00:02:18
Richard
$4.80,
00:02:21
Ben
Could you imagine like going into Woolworths and saying, you know, can you accept a check?
00:02:22
Richard
yeah.
00:02:26
Richard
four is eighty yeah
00:02:27
Ben
And they were just laughing at you. go put that on my account. Yeah. No, you're right. And the the the different font sizes is what catches you too.
00:02:39
Ben
It's sort of like they're
00:02:40
Richard
all different types and some are italic and some are normal, different colors.
00:02:43
Ben
committed to making it fit onto one a four sheet. And so we're supposed to like magnify it on our own computers when we get home or something.
00:02:52
Ben
Yeah.
00:02:53
Richard
Yeah. I mean, it's a nightmare. People must get that stuff wrong all the time. Just trying to read the digits and stuff anyway.
00:02:59
Ben
Yeah.
00:02:59
Richard
Yeah.
00:03:00
Ben
Well, nice one. I love the, I love the, you know, the attention to detail.
Unusual Facts about Pacemakers
00:03:04
Ben
but The one I wanted to discuss this week was, do you know that pacemakers, if something, you' know, you what a pacemaker is, right?
00:03:13
Ben
It keeps the rhythm of your heart going.
00:03:13
Richard
Yeah.
00:03:15
Ben
do you know they can be reused? Have you heard about this?
00:03:17
Richard
What?
00:03:18
Ben
Yeah, so it so
00:03:18
Richard
No, I haven't used, I haven't heard about this.
00:03:21
Ben
so if you if you pass away and you've got a pacemaker, it can actually be taken out and reused. Have a guess how they reuse them.
00:03:32
Richard
I mentioned they put them in. don't know.
00:03:35
Ben
They do. They They put them in dogs. Can you imagine?
00:03:40
Richard
Get out of here.
00:03:42
Ben
Yeah. So a dog is able to accept a pacemaker if it's been gifted. Now, here's the catch. It has to be donated through your will.
00:03:53
Ben
So, yeah.
00:03:53
Richard
What? And you say you've to know a dog that, and gift your postmaker to them.
00:03:57
Ben
Or you don't donate it to science.
00:03:58
Richard
How does that even work?
00:04:00
Ben
So in I guess in your will, you say, i I'm an owner and wearer of a pacemaker and I'm willing for it to be repurposed and given to the dog clinic and and and hopefully Fido who gets it is is a perfect match for my unit.
00:04:00
Richard
Wow. Wow.
00:04:18
Ben
I don't i don't know how it works, mate, but yeah.
00:04:19
Richard
And so they have them sitting in a box in the corner of the office waiting for someone to go.
00:04:23
Ben
give it a rattle so this one still works but put that one in see if I had no idea either yeah
00:04:29
Richard
Oh, dear. that is i had no idea. that's utter don't know. It feels like a human body part, doesn't it? i' i don't know if that feels wrong.
00:04:37
Ben
my yeah my dad told me about this and he so and he was telling me through it and he couldn't wipe the smile off his face because he was saying yeah you can reuse your pacemakers and was like that's a bit gruesome goes yeah yeah for dogs and And so he's, I think he's put it in his will.
00:04:40
Richard
Right.
00:04:54
Ben
I think he actually went ahead and did it, which is just, could you imagine if you didn't know and you went to the will reading and it's like, and to my son, I give this into this and and I give my pacemaker like, whoa, hang on.
00:05:07
Ben
Who's got dibs on the pacemaker? the I wanted that. Yeah.
00:05:12
Richard
Yeah, exactly. in the family, Dad. What are you doing?
00:05:16
Ben
Oh, yeah, that's right.
00:05:16
Richard
Yeah.
00:05:17
Ben
the The family heirloom pacemaker has been handed down for generations. But there you go. So if you've got someone in your family who does wear a pacemaker, let them know that they they can be repurposed. That was that was an interesting one.
00:05:33
Richard
yeah
00:05:33
Ben
it
00:05:34
Ben
Travel tip of the week. There's no there's no logical segue from Dogs and Pace Wakers into travel tip of the week, so I'm just going to load up.
Audiobook Recommendations for Commuters
00:05:42
Ben
I'm a big fan of Audible books, and we talked about the vehicle relocation that I did last last week.
00:05:49
Ben
And I just thought i'd I'd make a shout out that if you're on a long commute or even layovers in airports, it's just the greatest way to use time well if you're not a podcast listener, which feels funny saying, given that the people who who are listening literally, well, I'm an idiot.
00:06:06
Ben
Anyway, you're listening,
00:06:08
Richard
keep going
00:06:13
Ben
That's not a spade, that's a shovel. if you If you do listen to Audible books, i just think it's a wonderful time to spend on on commutes, especially on long commutes and that that vehicle relocation.
00:06:24
Ben
And I listened to a book called Shantaram, which is written an Australian author.
00:06:28
Richard
Nice to, yeah.
00:06:30
Ben
It's 42 hours long,
00:06:32
Richard
Famous book, yeah.
00:06:34
Ben
It's quite quite a famous book. But the how about a shout out to the to the narrators? Because the guy who read this book, A, spoke for 42 hours, but B, spoke in many, many, many different accents and and from a range of of people that the the character interacted with. And i I actually did some looking into the guy who whod narrated the book. And he's an actor.
00:07:01
Ben
like He actually has a history. he actually teaches like drama.
00:07:04
Richard
Wow.
00:07:06
Ben
And i think I think I've got that right. up I hope I've got that right. I connected with him on LinkedIn and sent him a message and just said, mate, I'm sure Shantaram Red is is amazing. But...
00:07:17
Ben
with you reading it, it was epic and just said, thank you to him. And he responded, he gave me a thumbs up and said, thanks. So, uh, there you go
00:07:24
Richard
Oh, nice. Yeah, cool.
00:07:25
Ben
It was pretty cool, but it was, yeah,
00:07:26
Richard
So how long have you been Audible-ing? How long have you been on the Audible bus?
00:07:30
Ben
quite yeah Yeah, quite some time. I i sort of catch on the the Black Friday sales when it's $1 a month for three months or at least significantly discount because it it is expensive.
00:07:42
Richard
Yeah.
00:07:46
Ben
It used to be that if you bought the book, you owned it, and now there's a subscription service, which is a lower tier, which can catch you out, that if you cancel your membership, you got no longer got access to the book, which is –
00:07:53
Richard
saving
00:07:58
Ben
which is interesting. So, and I like to own the book. Not that I'll probably ever reread any of them again, but I just feel like I paid for it and it's mine. So yeah, quite some quite some time I've been on the Audible book bandwagon.
00:08:07
Richard
you know
00:08:12
Ben
Have you ever done that?
00:08:12
Richard
What about Kindle?
00:08:12
Ben
I know know you're you're an avid reader.
00:08:15
Richard
I'm an avid reader. i You know, I like to hold the book in my hand though. So like i i never could quite get into Kindle reading.
00:08:25
Ben
Hmm.
00:08:26
Richard
So like it is for it is very, powerfulve and i've got a Kindle and maybe them.
00:08:27
Ben
It's very popular.
00:08:34
Richard
fifteen or twenty books on the kindle but i much prefer to much prefer to read them
00:08:37
Ben
Yeah, okay. You're a tact tactile person. Yeah.
00:08:41
Richard
Yeah, do. I kind of like it.
00:08:42
Ben
Yeah.
00:08:42
Richard
It also, it works if it hasn't been charged up and it's, you can use it in lots of different, you can read it easily in sunlight.
00:08:48
Ben
Yeah.
00:08:52
Ben
yeah
00:08:52
Richard
Something about paper.
00:08:54
Ben
You've probably got better eyesight for me. I like Audible because I've got bit of diabetic retinopathy and you've got the floaties in my – and so focusing on a book for long periods of time is actually just a bit but strange.
00:09:03
Richard
Yeah, okay.
00:09:08
Ben
So having it read to me is is quite – I find it quite relaxing.
00:09:10
Richard
Well, I get it. i mean, I like podcasts too.
00:09:11
Ben
Yeah.
00:09:12
Richard
So, so like, it's kind of like the the hybrid.
00:09:14
Ben
Mm-hmm. Yeah, interesting.
00:09:16
Richard
Yeah.
00:09:17
Ben
Yeah.
Listener Insights on E-Bikes
00:09:18
Richard
Fantastic.
00:09:18
Ben
Speaking of hybrids, listener feedback. Listener JA listens to our podcast while he's e-biking to work.
00:09:28
Richard
Fantastic.
00:09:29
Ben
So shout out to e-bike users listening on their commute. And when i when I caught up with with JA, he I said to him, but what's the deal with e-bikes? He said, it's about average speed, not top speed.
00:09:42
Ben
which I thought was an incredibly incredibly simple way of explaining the benefit of that commute. like If you're doing 30 kilometers an hour all the way, rather than the stop-start up to 60 kilometers an hour, I guess if it's an inner city road, You're probably going to get there at the same time without any of the the the hassles.
00:09:49
Richard
Mm.
00:09:57
Richard
Mm. Mm.
00:10:03
Richard
Trish hurt.
00:10:04
Ben
And so, yeah, it was an interesting conversation about the benefits of e-bikes. Melbourne-based listeners, so Melbourne's sort of set up for cyclists. They spend a fair bit of time on that. I don't think it's perfect, but they've had a good at So...
00:10:18
Ben
so
00:10:18
Richard
Good
00:10:19
Ben
And listen to Gigi resonated with the Hero's Journey topics. And he said, yeah, we should all tap into failure and we aren't superhuman. He just acknowledged that he wasn't superhuman.
00:10:31
Ben
I know Gigi is. I think he's pretty cool guy though. So yeah, interesting.
00:10:35
Richard
thoughts.
00:10:36
Ben
Why not leave a comment if you're listening? We'd love to have a couple more reviews if you could find the time to drop us a review if you think we're worthy. Shoot us a text, join that inner sanctum.
00:10:48
Ben
The links will always be in the show notes. Conundra of the week.
Debating Google AI Summaries
00:10:53
Ben
Now, you would you and I were discussing this off air. do we Do we trust Google AI summaries? What's the Yeah.
00:11:01
Richard
Well, it's a good one, isn't it? So i meant i'm a I like to research stuff. So like I'm a pretty deep researcher. And so my kind of completely anecdotal unscientific findings are that six out of 10 summaries fantastic they they they really distill down things and capture the vibe adequately and you'd say probably at a level where you're kind like okay that's that that probably sorts me out and then it it you might change direction or base take that feedback on board and maybe three out of ten are kind of like
00:11:38
Richard
It sounds plausible, but I'm really not super sure if that holds water. I think that the answers got – well, the answers might be missing some nuance that's actually important for the context.
00:11:43
Ben
Better double check, yeah.
00:11:48
Richard
It doesn't call that out, you know, sort of thing. And then one of them one out of ten is just rubbish, way off base, and it's going to be a nightmare. But they're all presented so convincingly, right?
00:11:58
Richard
And so that if don't – yeah.
00:11:59
Ben
that was I was going to ask, so don't you find that they've written in so with such conviction that how do you pick the one out of ten that's wrong?
00:12:04
Richard
Yeah.
00:12:06
Ben
Yeah.
00:12:06
Richard
Exactly. so you you've got to actually follow up and do all the reading on all of them because you can't trust them.
00:12:12
Ben
Yeah.
00:12:13
Richard
I mean, it probably depends how, how, how important the answer is as to whether you should go on and research it more. But I know that websites that rely on a lot of traffic, you know, heavily SEO optimized websites in particular, are not getting the links and the click throws anymore, even if they do appear in the top three in Google.
00:12:34
Ben
I think we're just reading.
00:12:34
Richard
you know, they spend all their time optimizing and stuff, but people just go for the summaries now and they're not clicking through to the sites.
00:12:37
Ben
Yeah.
00:12:40
Richard
So that's that's interesting.
00:12:41
Ben
and it's and And what do you think drives that? Are we inherently lazy and we just assume that it's correct? Or are we rightfully, and I think that's fair, assuming it's correct?
00:12:55
Ben
Like, do do you know what I mean? Like, should we be should we be fact-checking or or is it a reasonable assumption?
00:12:58
Richard
Yeah.
00:13:04
Richard
The other, i think i think that's a great question. And I think perhaps maybe that a sort of a maybe a parallel question too, is that, you know, sort of pre-AI summary era
00:13:18
Ben
Yeah.
00:13:20
Richard
the The game was optimizing your website to get to the for for front page, right? And if you got to the front page to get to the top of the front page, because you've got such a high distribution of clicks and hits, if if you could make it to that spot, it was worth money.
00:13:36
Richard
But you've kind of got, you're playing Google's game to get to the top of that list You know, you've got to have all these links pointing into your site and you've got to have a really high page rank and all these other sorts of things. It's kind of, it's just, I just find it interesting how...
00:13:52
Richard
And then Google sells ads too. Google sells ads against that that traffic and Google puts ads up the top of that traffic. So googles Google puts ads on the pages you go to. So they're monetizing every every sort of slice that they can in your in the sort of eyeballs as you go through the journey of of of finding something.
00:14:12
Ben
You're giving me the impression that we should be fact-checking.
00:14:12
Richard
Yeah.
00:14:14
Ben
It feels like it's a muddled, yeah, the it's a muddled result because ahll they'll tell you what they want to sell you.
00:14:16
Richard
well I think it is. The whole thing is is is a little wonky, really. Yeah.
00:14:22
Richard
so
00:14:22
Ben
Interesting. Interesting.
00:14:24
Richard
Well, yes.
Episode Conclusion and Teaser
00:14:25
Ben
hey that's it, Richard. Listeners have been BCC'd on our week. And in next week's show, i going to tell you about the time I was right in the conversation with my wife. See you next week.
00:14:37
Ben
Bravo, Charlie Club, out.
00:14:39
Richard
And that is the pod.